One Year of Dempsey-ness!

Dear Dempsey,

My how time has flown by! We can't believe that one year ago we were at the hospital, ready, waiting and laboring away to meet you and didn't even know if you would be a boy or a girl! It's crazy to think back on your birthday and remember that day and to see the pictures of you just minutes to days old compared to now. You have blessed our lives in such a truly indescribable way! From the moment you came into this world you have been nothing but the most incredibly happy baby! I think you love us almost as much as we love you!

It's amazing how much you have grown both physically and mentally over the last twelve months! At your one year check up you weighed 23 lbs, 1 oz and were 30 1/8" tall. That means you have gained almost 16 pounds and grown about 10 inches since you were born!! Your definitely filling out and have developed your mom's cheeks now - you lucky little guy! You are one adorable, tall, and chubby little one year old! The one year, month-by-month photo collage is complete and it's fun to see how much you've grown into your chair!

You have learned a lot of new words over the last month and use "Oakleigh", "Oakel", "Oak", "more", "hot", and "up"quite frequently. You are pretty cute with "hot" because you whisper it whenever you say it. You use "more" when you want more food, which is helpful for your parents because sometimes we don't know that you can eat so much food! :) You still love being outside; although we got a fair amount of snow in February and it was also pretty cold so you didn't get to spend quite as much time outside as you would have liked. You love your puppies and chickens and definitely say Oakleigh, oakel, oak on a very regular basis. You have really started to love books and will hang out and read for more than five seconds at a time, which is a pretty big deal in baby land.

You started standing up on your own the first week to ten days of month and your balance was getting better everyday. You even took your first steps this month. You did a lot of laughing and squealing during those first few terrifyingly awesome steps too. The funny part is that you tried walking a few more times after that night and we could get you to take a few steps here and there, but for the most part you returned to crawling - apparently you thought this was a much safer/faster route to wherever it is you wanted to go! Luckily we captured your one night of walking fun on camera so you can enjoy that for many years to come! 

For your first birthday we kept it a family affair and tried to not go overboard with a theme and decorations; but we still kept it fun and colorful. Both of your great-grandma Marge's came, your Aunt Charlotte, your Aunt Hanni, Uncle Freddy, and Grandma and Grandpas from both sides and of course, your mom and dad! Grandma Lisa made you TWO cakes! One was shaped like your favorite bath toy - an orange and blue octopus and that served as your smash cake. The other one was a layered cake with bright colors inside - which was for the adults. You really weren't too sure what to think of the cake - it was a big departure from your usual diet full of lots of veggies, fruits and lean proteins. But, you had fun nonetheless and particularly enjoyed sharing and feeding your cake to everyone else! You got plenty spoiled with lots of books, a wagon, a little gym membership, toys, clothes, and everything else your little heart didn't even know it desired! You are definitely a very loved. For even more great pictures of the day and time when your Great Grandma Marge from Illinois was in town just click on over to your Aunt Hanni's facebook album.

You are a pretty adorable little dude to photograph, so mom takes at least one picture a day. Although in all honesty it's probably closer to 15-20 pictures most days! This month I pretty much only instagramed pictures of you, as you can see below! You had lots of fun with paint, reading with your dad, eating fruit, and you especially loved helping your dad do the dishes this past month!

Mr. Dempsey, we really could not love you any more. You are the most incredible gift we could have ever received! We have had so much fun over the past year watching you grow and learn and we can't wait to watch that happen as much time as we are given to do so! You light up our lives and make us laugh and smile everyday. Thank you for being such an amazing little man! Cheers to your first year!

Love,

Mom and Dad